Drake: Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Murdering Me’

August 31st, 2013 ESUN

When hip-hop fans first heard Kendrick Lamar‘s electric verse on Big Sean’s “Control,” there was a collective gasp. Eager rappers hit the studio in response, but not Drake.

“[I] went about my day, went and got dinner and kept it moving,” Drizzy told Billboard magazine in their latest issue of the verse in which K-Dot took Drake and a number of his other rap friends to task, stating that he will figuratively murder them with raps.

“I’m usually homeboys with the same n—-s I’m rhymin with/ But this is hip-hop and them n—-s should know what time it is/ And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale/ Pusha T, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Drake/ Big Sean, Jay Electron’, Tyler, Mac Miller/ I got love for you all but I’m tryna murder you n—-s/ Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you n—-s/ They don’t wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you n—as,” the Black Hippy MC rapped to the amazement of the rap world at large.

A number of MCs issued responses of different kinds, through the media, Twitter and through song — though none of the MC’s named in the verse have released any rebuttal songs yet.

“I didn’t really have anything to say about it,” Drake said. “It just sounded like an ambitious thought to me. That’s all it was. I know good and well that Kendrick’s not murdering me, at all, in any platform. So when that day presents itself, I guess we can revisit the topic.”

On Thursday, Lamar spoke to Hot 97 in New York explained his reasoning behind the fiery verse. “At the end of the day, when you listen to the line, these are cats that I feel can inspire the game and they aspire to be the best just like I feel. I aspire to be the best,” he said. “If they’re competitive and they respect the culture of hip-hop, I don’t feel like it should be any type of ill feeling they should have towards it.”